Patlabor: The New Files 9/10

First thing's first. Read this review for Patlabor TV. Done? Good.

Patlabor: The New Files is simply a continuation of the same with better quality animation and a couple of new songs. If you thought the Ingrams looked cool in the TV series well think again. They look REALLY cool now. Also this set of OAVs breaks the all time TV Series follow up OAV record as far as I'm concerned. 16 episodes beats Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura and Orange Road. These shows were released from 1990-1992.

There are really 3 groups of stories. The first is a 4 episode arc that deals with the final showdown with the black Griffin that smashes through the new Zeros pretty quickly. I thought the creators really did a great job saving the 3rd Ingram's battle appearance until these last few episodes though the NA DVDs put these in sequentially but they were originally episodes 1, 3, 5, and 7.

The second group is the funnier, average case episodes very much in the vein of the TV series. A man in a bear suit holds hostage the studio where his children's show is being cancelled. The men of SV2 have to find a criminal in a bathhouse by getting a peek at his armpit. The maintenance squad goes to war with each other after the chief bans all their extra curricular activities. The team goes back into the tunnels and face off again with the giant white crocodile. Finally a dream episode where Noa and the team is a parody of Ultraman.

The last set are the best episodes, the kinda serious, kinda funny episodes that deal with the characters outside of their jobs that the series was kinda missing. Noa gets a toothache and we learn that maybe Asuma is more concerned for her welfare than average co-workers. Kanuka and Takeo (the other lady) go with the gang to a hot spring hotel and don't get along. Ota gets amnesia and thinks he killed all the guys in SV2. Noa, Asuma, Hiromi, and Shige find a kitten and it wreaks havoc. Finally Goto and Shinobu get stranded and have to spend a night together in a themed love hotel.

Of course the last two episodes I haven't mentioned yet get special treatment.

The final episode wraps the show up with a whimper rather than a bang though in this case it was the right choice. It's a day off the the SV2 and we see how each of member of the team spends their day. They've changed since we first met them but not necessarily in really obvious ways. At the end of the episode the peaceful ambience is shattered with a dispatch and we're left with only our imaginations as to what happens to the cast after we take our leave from their world for the last time. (The follow-up movies don't exist in my mind.)

Episode 14, Snow Rondo stands as my favourite anime episode of all time out of the thousands I have seen even 10 years after having seen it for the first time. Asuma gets an invitation to his 10th(?) high school reunion. Once there he meets the Madonna (not the singer) of his high school class that he had/has a thing for. He goes on a couple of dates with her but she mysteriously disappears each time only to reappear unexpectedly days(?) later. A red umbrella, a red balloon, a snowscape painting, and a mysterious snow along with a hauntingly beautiful score create a sombre tone to a story we never have quite explained to us. Some of what Asuma experiences is real, some a dream, we are only sure something odd is happening. This picture I suppose sums it up for me.


Best episode ever. I can assure you.

By the way, the last episode is titled "All Quiet at the Second Unit". Super duper highly recommended.